Beehive.



G. G. RAHN.

BEBHIVE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 21, 1913.

1, 1 1 6,922. Patented Nov. 10, 1914.

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G. G. RAHN.

BEEHIVE. APPLICATION FILED JULY 21, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Nov. 10, 1914.

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firms- 7- l 1N ITEI) STATES PATENT" GEORGE c. nanii, or iiAILnYBUn-Y,ONTARIO, CANADA, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF fro MARTIN J. onoNNEnL, oroLEvnLaNn'OHIo. I

BEEHIVE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 10, 1914.

Original application filed January 23, 1913, Serial No. 743,733. Dividedand this application filed. July 21, 1913. =Seria1No. 780,380;

T0 all-whom it may concern: i

Beit known that I, GEORGE C. RAH a citizen of the United States,residing at Haileybury, in the district of Nippising, Ontario, Canada,have-invented certain new and useful Improvements in Beehives, of whichthe following is aspecification.

This application is a division of my application filed January 23, 1913,Ser. No. 7 43,7 33, for improvements in bee-hives, and the inventionherein resides more particularly in the means for transferring thebeesfrom one bro'odbox to another when swarming, all substantially as hereinshown and described andpointedout in the claims.

,In' the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is, a sectional view verticallythrough a beehive comprising two brood boxes and a super or surplus box,including my im proved bee-escape board and swarming device. Fig. 2 is aplan view of the bee-escape board and otherpartsof the bee-hive belowline 22, Fig. 1. Fig.3 is a-front elevation of the organization shown inFig. 1 excepting the upper parts.

The bee-hives in general use comprise separable sections ofstandard sizeand dimension, and these sections are superposed.

At the start of the honey-season the beehive usuallyconsists of abottom-board 2, a brood-box 8, and a cover 4. When the surplus honeycomes a super or surplus box 5 is added. Later, when the conditions inthe bee-hive cause the bees to swarm, it is of great advantage torelocate the bees at the old hive in a new brood-box without sufferingany loss ofthe queen-bee and the workers, or loss in time and laloor ofthe bees in gathering and storing honey. I

A practical and effective way to accomplish the desired result isprovided by my improved devices and arrangement of parts. In this neworganization I also prefer to use an entrance box 6, such as shown anddescribed in my letters Patent of the United States, dated February 13,1912, andbearing Ser. No. 1,017, 233. r This entrance box 6 is placedupon the bottom board 2 immediately in front of the openlng 7 in broodbox 3, and it, serves several useful purposes as set forthin said"letters patent. In the present invention box 6 has the added utility ofproviding a base connection for a telescopic tube 8 at the front of thebee-hive and through which the bees are transferred to the brood-box 9by way of abee-escape board 10 placed upon the super or surplus box 5beneath box 9. Thisdividing section or so=called bee-escapeboard 10 isprovided with a raisedbOrder-frame 11 of substantially the same width asthe walls ofv the other box sections. An, opening 12 is, providedcentrally of this board,ywhich' is covered byqa thin perforated metalplate '13, the perforations being merely large enough'for the passage ofthe workers of thejcolony and too k small for the larger queen anddrones. A passage 14 is also providedthroughltheborder-frame 11 near onecorner atthefront; for the workers, this and having a perforatedguard-plate 15 secured across thesamefico bar the passage of the queenand the drones", Another open ing 16 is provided in border-frame11-at;a,

central point at the frontqofboard 10 to aiford a seat for the tubularelbow 17 which forms part of the wire-meshtube 8. The outlet end of theelbow 17 opens into the inner spaceof the bee-escape boardwhen,

the parts are assembled as in Fig, 1, and a series of perforations 18 ofa predetermined size in the top of the elbow permit only the workers toescapewhen trapped in tube 8,}

Without such means of escape, the workers passage communicating with theoutside a would otherwise block'up this passage ClllT-m ing swarmingfiights of all the bees and P y P nt the queen-bee from passing on intothe upper brood box 9.. Tube ;8 m y immediately through the perforatedguard 2O at-the front of the entrance box 6 when swarming occurs. Tube 8may be, a single piece of any suitable length to extend from entrancebox 6 to the beeescape board 10, but asshown-it is in several sectionstele- I scopicallyunited, whereby it may be shortened or extendedtoconnect separatebroodchambers superlmposed 1n other "relations 'than'asshown. v

The lower telescopic portion of tube 8 is sleeved on the cone 21 whichcovers the en- 5 and drones'to find this exit and they will pass upwardbefore the swarming workers trance 22 to the bottom of the rectangularcase 28 seated upon entrance box and a slide 24 controls this passageway .to the tube. Case 23 may be used as a trap to catch the drones whenit is desired to get rid of them as explained in my Letters v Patentaforesaid, but removal of the top wall or plate of this case permitstube 8 to be placed over the wire-mesh outlet cone 21 when the bees areabout to swarm. Then the of the box difiers from my former device inthat the said plate is curved to bring its middle portion closelyadjacent to the meeting ends of the two slides or shutters 2 5 butnevertheless sufficiently retired therefrom to aiford a passage for theworkers behindthe slides orsh utters. The advantage of this is that inswarming, the outwardly-bound queen-drones naturally take a d rectcourse i for the narrow central light-opening but as they are largerthan the perforations in the plate they cannot escape and consequentlybar the eriits at this central point. However the openings in the guardplate 20 at either side of this middle point do not become clogged asthe shutters shield and darken the box opposite these points andtherefore do not attract the drones and queen, but the workers are notdeterred by any such conditions as they are more'active and moreover'canpass through the p erforations. On the other hand the central locationof'cone 21 at the illuminated place of box 6 makes it an easy matter forthe queen return in their efiorts to their queen. Again, if the entrancewas not shielded and arranged in this manner the queen-bee might bedelayed in reaching tube8 and the upper brood-box 9 and the returningswarm 7 would force the queen-bee back into the lower brood-box 3, aresult which must be avoided.

The ends of guard plate 20 are removably seated in the vertical "grooves26 in the ends of the entrance-box"6, the "plate being curved to thisextent, i but the said {plate might be straight or of othershape andse-.

cured in any other simple way, providing that is slightly separated fromthe shut is flee to P rmi remi e te a in or out of the box 6 at eitherside of the ,middle .QI' more ,direct .passages when these geco me,clogged the outwardly bound ees.

@[lhe second brood-box 9 is a duplicate of the bottom box and is placedon the surplus- ;bgx 5 with the bee-escape board and the own accordtotheir queen in the new brood chamberbyway of the jlOWQIVbIOQQl-JQOX andthe opening 12' in the :bee-esca-peboard, and then 'forma new colony inthe brood-box 9. The bee keeper may then move the old brood box to a newlocation or both broodboxes can beleft on the same stand by removing thequeen-cells in the lower b'rood box.

WVhat claim is; l

1. 'Ina bee hive, a plurality of superimposed box sections having abee-escape board removably mounted 'therebetween, a

perforatedguard centrally the bottom .of said board for the passage ofthe smaller bees only of the-colony, a guarded entrance for the lowerbox section, and a swarming tube extending-upwardly from said tube andopen to said bee-escape board.

2. In a bee-hive, a brood-box having an entrance box provided withadjustable 'shut- .ters and a tube extending upward from said entrancebox, in combination with a second brood-box having open communicationwith the upper end of said tube. a

3. In a bee-hive, separate superimposed brood-boxes having aremovablebee-escape board and a removable tubular connection providedwith escape-openings at its upper end for the working-bees, incombination with an entrance box for the lower broodbox having a trapopening for said tubular connection and provided with adjustableshutters at-the front thereof and a perforated guard behindand spacedapart from said shutters to provide indirect passages for the bees.

In testimony whereof I affi-x my signature in presence of two witnesses.

i I GEQB EC- BAH VVitnesses s Anion G. MoQUARRrn,

J AMES MGQ R LE;

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